e-Newsletter – May 2014

This past April the family and I found ourselves enjoying a pleasant vacation in beautiful Charleston SC. If you haven’t visited Charleston you owe it to yourself to see it. It is filled with great history and many fascinating sites as well as an amazing southern charm. While visiting I made a point of making plans to see long-time 968er and friend Cliff Hudson. While the wife and daughter shopped one day Cliff came and picked me up (rescued me) in his beautiful polar silver 968 coupe and took me on a special 968 tour of Charleston. If you still have the window sticker for your car you’ll note that the port used by Porsche as the shipping point for all of our cars is listed as non-other than Charleston SC. Cliff knew the exact location near the airport where this all happened so we headed out in search of the spot. The building has since been re-purposed for other purposes but the large parking lots are still there. We managed to find our way on to one and I imagined all the Porsches parked together waiting for shipment around the US and Canada (hey, is that a mint green cabriolet in the corner?). I had Cliff park his 968 out in front of the building and took the picture below. You can see from the outside it definitely looks like a Porsche building with the unusual styling. On the day before we left Cliff was kind enough to organize a small 968 owner dinner and invited Josh Stolarz and Kevin Zemnickas. Not only did I have the best dinner I had all week, both Josh and Kevin drove their cars so in addition to taking in all that great U.S. history I saw five 968s before we headed back to Connecticut. A special thanks to Cliff for his great hospitality.  

It was looking to be a “good” year. What I mean is that when it comes to the annual PCA swap held in Hershey PA you can never tell what kind of weather you will get. I’ve been attending the event for years and have seen the extremes that the Hershey weather can present. Everything from a cold windy rain to a sunny mid-seventies day is possible along with everything in between. Central PA weather in late April is like that but as the day approached it was looking like 2014 was going to be a “good” weather year.

My son Greg and I got up bright and early on Saturday morning and were on the road by 5:15am for the 3-4 hour journey. The ride turned out to be a very pleasant one with no traffic. We made good time and pulled into the Hershey park parking lot just after 8:30am. As usual, the event was buzzing with Porsches and the central PA Porsche region had everything well organized. We made our way to the concours area and parked the speed yellow 968 coupe next to the other 968s. Many old friends immediately showed up including Raj, Aaron & Minta, Paige & Maryann and we spent time catching up but the ping of hunger quickly set in so we had to make our way to the Omelet truck for some needed fuel. With satisfied stomachs we could now peruse the amazing display of everything Porsche. If you’ve been to Hershey you know how incredible it is to see the many vendors pedaling their wares. Where do they all come from??? Porsche parts of every shape and size were everywhere and there were more wheels and tires then you could ever begin to count. Looking at the project cars is always entertaining. Although no 968 “barn finds” were seen this year Greg spotted an unusual euro 944 with many unique features including a “sunroof delete”, all for a whopping $3,000!!! The “For sale” car corral also provided the attendee with a large selection of every model of Porsche in varying states of condition.

With such a great weather day it was no surprise that the concours area was filled with many beautiful Porsches. There was a great collection of 356s, numerous 911s, more 928s then I have seen in recent times, and even three, count ‘em, three Carrera GTs. I “heard” two of them before I even saw them!! J In total I counted about 15 968s in attendance.

The weather held up great, staying sunny all day long with temperatures making their way to the high sixties. We continued to stroll the isles, picking up a few “treasures” and some discounted cleaning supplies along the way. After lunch the announcer indicated that the concours results were about to be announced so we made our way back to the show area. We were honored to be awarded third in the 924/928/944/968 class with a good friend taking second with his 944. After a few more visits to the parts vendor for some last minute “sale” purchases it was time to leave (Sorry Greg, we have to leave that Euro 944 for someone else). We had a pleasant ride home and we’ll look forward to the 2015 event.

If you are a Porsche fan you owe it to yourself to one day attend the PCA swap. You may not come home with a project car, a trunk load of parts, or autograph from fellow Porsche fan Jerry Seinfeld, but you’ll definitely return with some great memories of a day of “all things Porsche”.

Anyone going to the Parade this year? If you would be interested in setting up a 968 event let me know and I’ll push the information to the registry members. Below is a link to the event website:

Adam and I have been working hard on the new Website. It is coming along nicely and should be launched in a few months. Stay tuned for further updates.

Sincerely,

Jeff Coe

PCA 968 Register advocate

If you’ve sold your 968 or would no longer like to receive this newsletter please contact me and I’ll take you off the distribution list. If you are looking for a 968 or know some who is let me know as I am often contacted with 968s for sale. If you plan to change your email address in the future contact me so I can update the distribution list.